Jane Bowler’s Space-Age Raincoats Make Fantastic Use of Recycled Plastic

Stormy weather? Turn that frown upside down with one of designer Jane Bowler’s avant-garde raincoats, which deftly meld East and West influences. Sculpted from recycled and reappropriated plastics, including shower curtains, Bowler’s “Fusion” collection marries the poles-apart aesthetic of the traditional Japanese straw coat and the classic British macintosh. The Royal College of Art graduate’s process is completely stitch-free, a combination of industrial techniques such as heat-forming and ultrasonic welding. (The latter method involves high-frequency ultrasonic acoustic vibrations to bind materials together.)

SPLISH SPLASH

At the core of Fusion’s high-tech engineering is Bowler’s belief that recycled products can be luxurious, innovative, and desirable. “Fusion is designed to make plastic fantastic for longer,” she says. “[And] to create a garment that the owner will be reluctant to throw away.”

Bowler believes that recycled products can be luxurious, innovative, and desirable.

In keeping with Bowler’s mantra of reduce and reuse, even the rubber molds she had made are designed to be used again. The result is a series of space-age slickers in burnished metallic hues like gold, bronze, and titanium.